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Junction suspect accused of dealing meth from home

By {screen_name}
Friday, December 18, 2009

A Grand Junction man was arrested early Thursday morning on multiple felony drug charges, accused of running a methamphetamine-distribution operation out of a home that featured a video surveillance system and equipment to detect monitoring devices.

Authorities allege that at one point, Joseph W. Barton, 30, 3034 Gerken Court, conducted counter surveillance on narcotics officers by videotaping them as they were watching his home.

Barton was arrested in connection with the execution of a search warrant at 3047 Hill Ave. by the Western Colorado Drug Task Force and the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, according to an arrest affidavit.

Officers found methamphetamine in several places inside the home, several thousand dollars in cash, several hundred rounds of ammunition, seven firearms, numerous gun holsters and several pieces of jewelry, according to the affidavit

Officers also found a 42-inch television connected to a monitor hooked up outside the house, as well as a two-way radio- frequency detector.

“I know from training and experience people who make a living selling drugs will commonly purchase these in order to detect if a client (someone purchasing the drugs) has a body wire or some sort of monitoring device on their person,” an investigator wrote in the affidavit.

Barton could be charged with possession of meth with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia and two sentence-enhancing counts of being a special drug offender. He is being held in Mesa County Jail on $300,000 bond.